Wednesday, Apple Insider reported on an investor report from J.P. Morgan, which indicated that tablet manufacturers competing with Apple’s iPad have reduced their future build plans for their devices after experiencing lackluster sales. J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moscowitz called the poor sales an "early dose of reality".

The tablets in question include Asustek’s Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola’s XOOM, RIM’s PlayBook, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Overall planned production numbers have declined by 10%, from 81 million units to 73 million units.

It’s not surprising that these competitors’ sales are off to a rough beginning. After all, with the iPad, Apple had a pretty good head start. Of course, it’s still pretty early yet for these figures to spell the doom of the tablet market. It’s also interesting to note that the Barnes & Noble Nook Color is conspicuously absent from that list of tablets that are reducing their build numbers. From all reports, it’s been selling pretty well.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. ” Of course, it’s still pretty early yet for these figures to spell the doom of the tablet market.”

    I don’t think these figures spell the doom of the tablet market – quite the opposite, in fact. When Apple can sell 3 million iPads in 80 days I think they have identified a new, and very hungry market.

    Their competitors are failing because, quite frankly, who wants anything but an iPad? What we need to see is a new competitor on the market who can offer a sexy, sleek alternative that comes with an app store. I can think of two such competitors: Google and Amazon.

    Let’s see what the new Amazon Tablet powered by Google’s Android does to the market!

  2. The Nook Color is ostensibly an ebook reader so the sales expectations would be different and only the most convoluted mental gymnastics would be necessary to compare it to general purpose tablets like the iPad, Xoom, Galaxy Tab, etc.

    The issue with Apple getting out there first has more to do with ecosphere than hardware. The iPad is a nice bit of hardware, but so is the Xoom. But the people buying it aren’t the techno geeks who focus only on hardware specs. They want to actually DO something more with their $500+ purchase than astound their friends with their geek street cred. And not necessarily games (as I hear the peanut gallery shout).

    Sure, marketing helps – Apple definitely knows how to market to the non-geek crowd – but if there wasn’t anything there to go with it no one would be buying.

    “It’s the Ecosphere, stupid!”

    Hopefully,companies like Motorola and RIM will sort out these issues ASAP and provide their own desirable take on media tablets. Right now, before Microsoft gets their act together, there’s plenty of room for a wide variety of tablet devices – not everyone wants an iPad and the iPad doesn’t fit the needs of everyone who wants a tablet.

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